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Troxell Super Soft Leather Knee Pads – A Professional’s Review

 

Seaching for the best leather knee pad?

Troxell believes they have created it with their Super Soft Leather Knee Pad.

I take it on a professional’s review to see if it truly deserves the title of best leather knee pad.

Troxell Super Soft Leatherhead Knee Pads Quick Specs

Material: Leather (outer shell) Neoprene and Velcro Strap

Cost:  $$$ (PREMIUM)

On the highest end of the price scale compared to other professional knee pads in this class.

Best Suited For:

• Roofers

•HVAC installers

• Any trade working on roofs

• General Contractors

• Wooden Floor Installers

• Gardening

• Outdoor activities and camping.

Pros:

•Made in the USA

•Comfortable for all day use

• Single strap holds well

• Nonmarking leather perfect for delicate surfaces.

Cons:

• Very expensive 

• Build quality is inadequate for heavy duty professional use

• Leather finish is easily tarnished on harsh surfaces

Unlikely Review Conditions – Reviewing The Troxell Knee Pads

Friday night, the sun is setting in the distance but it still provides me enough light to finish packing.

I load the last of the fishing rods into the tray of my Ram pickup and begin hitching up the trailer of my small boat.

Just as I finish securing the chain in place my wife comes out of the house and throws something at me.

My couple years of amateur football come back to me and I catch the football-sized package as it flies towards my face.

In the gloom of approaching dusk, it’s hard to tell what it is but it feels soft and crinkles like plastic in my hands.

“All packed? Good, don’t forget to take these too.” My wife Jane says.

As I’m tearing into the packaging I quickly realize what they are and look at her stupidly.

“What I am supposed to do with knee pads at the lake? We’re going camping remember?”

The camping trip was going to be the maiden trial of our new tent, or should I say Jane’s tent.

She got it as a gift to herself (using my credit card) after I tricked her into purchasing a Barwalt Saw shack for work. You can read that story and review here in case you want to learn about cutting wet saws indoors.

“Yeah we are, but these arrived today and I want you to review them while we’re camping.” She turns around and calls over her shoulder as she walks away.

“I ain’t driving you to the hospital again, take them.” 

She had me there. 

If you are a first-time reader at Tilersplace you should know that I had a major accident involving my knees that required hospital time and a long recovery.

After that, I vowed to protect my knees and share my experiences with anyone that cared to listen.

The part where my wife had me was that I bought all the problems on myself when I refused to wear knee pads to work.

Despite warnings from the doctor that my articular cartilage was already showing signs of damage, I chose to ignore it and stubbornly refused to wear knee pads on the assumption that all knee pads were uncomfortable.

It all caught up to me one night when my knee flared up to the size of a basketball and I was in agonizing pain, forcing my wife to drive me all night to the nearest E.R.

After that accident, I tested about thirty pairs of knee pads and shortlisted them to 10 of the best knee pads for work.

Since there are so many knee pads available I decided to review other knee pads as they became available, hence why today I am reviewing the Troxell Leather Knee Pads.

I have written a fair bit about knee pads in previous articles and that is only the beginning.

Like a junkie that has reformed and wants to spread the dangers of addiction, I want to spread awareness of your knees.

It is best to protect them now while they’re healthy rather than protect them like crazy once their beginning to hurt or cause problems.

Take it from someone who is looking at double knee replacements before reaching the age of 50.

Just buy a decent pair of knee pads and wear them!

Even around the home if you’ll be digging around in the garden, slap some on, and slap some on your spouse as well.

As your grandad always told you: Prevention is the best cure.

Anyway, enough chit-chat, back to the story and review of the Troxell knee pads.

We pull up to our favorite camping grounds (top secret! Email me and I’ll let you know the location) and I am barely out of the car before Jane is mentioning the Troxell knee pads.

“Have you tried on the new Troxell’s yet?”

“Jane, I was driving all day, when did you expect me to wear them?” I start heaving out the massive Coleman tent she ordered from the Ram’s tray. 

Of course, she purchased the biggest, most expensive one she could find.

Women…

“Just keeping you on your toes, you act like a child, I treat you like one.”

Yeah, as I said I definitely lost a lot of marriage points with the whole knee pad thing and it’s going to take a long time and a lot of these reviews for her to forgive me.

Lucky you huh, at this rate I’ll be writing reviews till I’m 80.

I decided to appease her and put the Troxell knee pads on for when I begin putting up the tent and hammering in the stakes.

 

First Impressions of the Troxell  Knee Pads.

Immediately upon getting them into my hands, I notice the quality fit and finish of the knee pads.

This comes as a surprise as prior research of these knee pads showed customer reviews mentioning the knee pads were badly made and broke easily.

Others stated that the quality of Troxell knee pads all depending on their batch as some are great while others far from it.

Of course, a visual inspection can only show so much, as I continued to use the knee pads on our camping trip and later at work, I soon discovered how quality these knee pads really were.

Keep reading to learn about their real-world performance.

The knee pads are constructed mainly from neoprene with the outer face only being constructed from leather.

This is a slight disappointment if you are looking for a real leather knee pad. 

The Easy Walk Double Felt Leather Knee Pads produced by Heritage Leather are proper leather knee pads and I reviewed them in my top 10 best knee pads for work review.

You can check them out at Amazon here if you are looking for the best leather knee pads, these Troxell knee pads hardly can be classed as leather knee pads.

Slipping the thick single strap around my knee I am happy to notice how big the knee pads are to accommodate a large array of knee sizes.

My legs on the bulky size thanks to my build but even if you are built bigger than me your knees should fit nicely in these Troxell knee pads.

The single wide strap is long and interestingly enough it fastens at the front of the knee pad rather than the rear.

This is rare (love my pun?) for knee pads as the majority with velcro fasteners all meet at the back of the knee pad.

This design allows you to strap on the knee pads as tight as you want them making them suited for even lady users as they won’t slip off.

With their light tan color and soft design, they are one of the very few knee pads that a lady can wear without having the knee pads look out of place on her.

If you’re wanting a great gift for that special lady, these Troxell knee pads would make an ideal pair of knee pads for gardening.

I know this for a fact as I donated this pair to Jane after I finished testing them for this review.

So my first impressions with the Troxell knee pads were good, I liked the fit and unique features they had over other popular knee pads.

Time to see how they do in a camping environment.

Testing the Troxell Super Soft Leatherhead Knee Pads in an Outdoors setting.

With a grunt and a sigh, I lowered myself onto my knees to spread out the groundsheet of our tent.

The terrain I am crawling over is dry forest floor with the occasional sharp tree root jutting out from the ground.

I purposefully crawl over these roots to see how the Troxell’s handle it.

The thick padding that stretches all around my knee and to the side absorbs it like a safety net catching a falling tightrope artist.

I do not feel a thing apart from the sensation of my knee being higher at one point than the other.

10/10 for that test!

It’s the same when I do a quick gravel test of the track leading up to the camping spot.

I crawl for a good few feet and the knee pads make my knee feel like I’m crawling on a marshmallow.

With the kneeling tests sorted, I get busy readying camp, pitching the tent and setting up the necessities one needs when you get away from it all.

I don’t believe in glamping (glamour camping) but as I’m getting older I like to enjoy the finer things in life.

Like a cooler full of ice, Jack Daniels, and coke.

You know, the small things.

With all this going on I soon realize half the days passed and I totally forgot I was wearing the Troxell knee pads.

They were so comfortable and well fitting I didn’t need to stop to readjust them for all that time nor did the strap cause irritation.

So they definitely passed the comfort test with flying colors.

One of the reasons I stopped wearing knee pads was because of them falling down or irritating my skin like a nest of fire ants declaring war on my knee.

If you are searching for a comfortable set of knee pads for those long days, these could be the ones for you.

So the camping trip goes on, I get through my supply of Jack and spend quality time with my special someone.

Over the course of the week we spent at the lake I find I was using the knee pads for outdoor activities more and more.

I always had them handy so whenever I needed to kneel down for anything I quickly slipped them on.

Mainly to keep Jane happy but also because I found I enjoyed wearing them!

That’s something my former self would never believe!

Of course with all this use, especially over the rough terrain, I noticed the leather face of the Troxell knee pads becoming scratched and rough.

Whatever leather these knee pads are made out of they definitely aren’t the tough old leather boot style that our cowboy forefathers remember.

It was disappointing to see as I expected more from a premium priced set of knee pads and also because I knew if they couldn’t handle the outdoors how would they fare at work?

Next up, the real test. 

 What we know so far about the Troxell Knee Pads:

 • Handle rough terrain very well

• Very comfortable 

• Unisex design suited for both males and females

• Absorb impact very well.

• Unfortunate choice of leather can’t handle harsh surfaces.

Testing The Troxell Super Soft Leatherhead Knee Pads at Work

The following week I am back at work and the memories of my fantastic trip are all keeping me motivated as I do battle with the daily grind.

I had a busy week ahead with a variety of jobs to do that would all involve wearing my now not-so-new Troxell knee pads.

From laying mud in a bathroom to waterproofing and then of course tiling and grouting.

The initial surface of the bathroom was a coarse poured concrete with large chunks of jagged stone protruding from the surface.

Small wonder I was laying mud over that junk, it was in no way ready to be tiled on top.

That and the joker pouring the foundation made the slope completely opposite to the shower drain.

The last time I checked water doesn’t flow upwards!

So heavy duty leveling and mud were on the agenda.

If you have been paying attention you will remember the leather surface of the Troxell knee pads didn’t fare too well with the rough outdoors.

After a full day crawling around on that concrete they were a sorry sight indeed.

The leather was scratched and crisscrossed with so many scuffs it looked like a spiders web. 

In one section it had even torn a little.

Even worse was they were very difficult to scrub down at the end of the day.

The leather (I’m starting to suspect it isn’t real leather) has this textured surface that while it makes it nonskid, also helps any mortar or concrete stick to it.

After scrubbing it with a harsh brush (which made the surface even worse) I got the bulk of it off but the pores were still full of gray concrete and muck.

I also noticed the front velcro fastening system to have eaten a lot of the mortar as I crawled over it.

Conclusion after Day 1

These Troxell knee pads are ideally suited for any trade that doesn’t involve wet mortar or concrete, any substances like that.

Ideally keep them away from any wet areas of harsh surfaces as these knee pads are really not suited for it.

I keep thinking they’re better for the “cleaner trades or industries” like guys working on roofs, electricians and general contractors doing fit-outs.

Also, the soft leather surface would be ideal if your laying polished wooden floors as they won’t scratch the fine surface.

Just be careful not to get any grit stuck to the surface of the knee pad.

As the week drags on I use the knee pads every day and they constantly accumulate more muck, dirt and all sorts of nasty goodies.

At the end of each day, I note more and more scratches on the knee pads surface.

By Friday I start to notice something even more alarming, however.

At the top point of the knee pad where the biggest weight of my body presses down, I saw the first signs of the knee pads beginning to deflate.

I don’t mean literally deflate but the foam was beginning to flatten and turn more into a compressed slab.

This, of course, is worrisome in knee pads because as the foam gets stiffer and less shock absorbent, the less protection it gives you.

And the less comfortable it becomes.

All week my knee pads were supremely comfortable and kept my knees pain free even when I spent most of the day on them.

I decided to continue using them for another week to see how the foam and leather held up.

My findings will be in the conclusion of this article.

In Conclusion – Are The Troxell Knee Pads the Best Leather Knee Pads?

My first impressions with the Troxell Super Soft Leatherhead Knee Pads were all positive.

I loved the innovative design of the forward fastening strap that not only proved to be super comfortable behind the leg but also held the knee pads firmly in place.

With a gender neutral design and color scheme, they can be ideal knee pads for work or for gardening with all genders being catered for in style.

A week in the wild outdoors showed me the Troxell Knee Pads to have user comfort as their primary focus as I could crawl over anything Mother Nature threw at me without feeling it.

Sadly though, the leather face didn’t live up to its name and the surface of the knee pads soon became marred with scratches and nicks.

Two weeks on the job as a tiler brought out the true colors of the Troxell Knee Pads as they showed they weren’t made for heavy use or abuse.

By the end of week two at work, my knee pads had about half the padding absorbancy that they had when new and at times I was feeling the concrete floor beneath them.

I can only imagine a month of work with these and they’ll be fully flat like a pancake. (Don’t get hungry yet, the reviews nearly over.)

It wasn’t only the foam that proved a bad choice as the leather surface was torn, scratched and had accumulated a large amount of mortar and concrete I couldn’t clean off.

As a knee pad for dirty trades, I cannot recommend them by any degree.

If you are looking for the proper best leather knee pads then something like the Heritage leather knee pad could be for you.

Here is the link if you want to check it out.

Alternatively, there’s another great set of knee pads produced by Custom Leathercraft that is more modern in design and has thicker felt padding.

Check it out here.

Whichever pair you choose will perform much better than these Troxell for your purposes.

Do you want to know the best part?

They’re all much cheaper than the Troxell’s as well even though their leather is of better quality.

I believe I may have used the Troxell Knee Pads in a setting they were not designed for, however in saying that it helped me quickly deduce their weak points.

In terms of a review, this was ideal.

Ideally, these knee pads are for you brave souls working up high on roofs and need a comfortable knee pad that won’t slide around while keeping you protected.

It’ll easily handle any protrusions or superheated surfaces you may crawl over and the comfortable design will help while climbing ladders and the like.

They are also great knee pads for gardening as you won’t be tearing them up too bad while crawling on the lawns or crushed shell pathways.

If your path is peddled then you can kneel in comfort as you won’t feel a thing in your Troxell’s.

Jane confirms all this as she uses my battered pair out in the garden but says to avoid mud.

The neoprene and padding are not too fond of it and get difficult to clean without a proper soak.

I hope that gave you a thorough look into the Troxell Knee Pads, I had a great time reviewing the knee pads despite my initial reverence of reviewing another set of knee pads.

If you feel these knee pads are for you then click the button below to order your pair.

I found Amazon sells them at the same price as the manufacturer so you have all the safety of Amazon’s customer service along with the best price.

Click below to proceed ↓

If you found the Troxell Knee Pads weren’t for you, why not check out my Top 10 Best Knee Pads For Work Review?

I cover ten of the best knee pads suited for work in a wide range of styles.

Chances are you will find your ideal knee pad there.

With an in-depth look into ten of the best knee pads, I lay out the pros and cons of each one along with recommendations for every trade and industry.

It’s the largest of its kind and the review that started it all.

Check it out!